The deals have been made with Luxor Cinemax (Sochi), Electronika (Nizinhy Novogorod) and Art Science Cinema Distribution (Novosibirsk), the latter now committed to its second IMAX theatre system. Designed to further enhance ‘The IMAX Experience’ and help to drive profitability by reducing the need for film prints, the IMAX digital projection system is configured for an IMAX MPX-style auditorium and is capable of showing Hollywood movies that have been digitally remastered using IMAX’s proprietary DMR technology in both IMAX and IMAX 3D.
At present, three IMAX theatres are operational in Russia – located in Moscow, St Petersburg and Kazan – with a total of ten due to be open and running by the end of 2011.
Asked to assess the degree to which the new system has been adopted on a wider European basis, an IMAX spokesperson told II: “IMAX has strong interest from a number of different exhibitors – large and small alike – from a variety of different countries across Europe, and we are hopeful [that we will be able to] announce several deals within the next two to three months.”
